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Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Good Morning! The sun is just barely peeking out this morning as I was sitting inside browsing on my little Chromebook when I saw there was a garden party going on in blogland. Well, immediately, I knew I had to get my butt, um I mean myself in gear and share a little outdoor love myself.

It seems time is flying by so fast lately and I've hardly blogged at all. I truly intended to do more blogging but time just ticks away so fast. To be honest, I enjoy sharing my photos and projects but sharing them is not on the top of my list these days. I know this is probably one of the most discouraging things I could say as a blogger but its true. I say this because I am more in the phase of just getting things done lately. I am learning to take things slower and not to pressure myself with adding in so many additional responsibilities. For me, adding in the time it takes to snap photos and write a post often comes at the expense of putting aside something else. I am choosing a little less of that right now because when the weather is nice I am all about "living" outside. I wish I could juggle it better as so many do and share it all but I cannot. I don't want to stress either so its hit and miss blogging for me right now. I hope you will understand.

One of my most favorite visions each morning is this gigantic knock out rose. I love seeing it outside of my glass kitchen doors and how it cascades beautifully over the railing.

It just blooms so beautifully! Unfortunately, it is also so very aggressive and has almost completely taken over one corner of the bedding area by the deck. I think it's trying to make its way past our rooftops. LOL!

In that same area we have two very large camellia bushes (trees) and a snowball viburnum, shown here. We are relocating the snowball viburnum soon to the back yard along the fence. As you can see here, I also have gardenias in this bedding area as well. I have them all around my house and they are all budding well but not blooming yet. The gardenias are one of my summer delights.

This is the area I hope to relocate the viburnum too. As you can see it is a very shady area under large oaks. It's problematic because we have red clay and abundance of leaves that fall ever year. We let it go for awhile now and just this year I cleared away years of dead leaves. I am taking a risk putting it here but I think it's going to be fine as we do get a some sun here and I have been able to sustain the gardenias and azaleas that I've planted here as well. I say sustain because that's what they are doing, not quite flourishing though. What really needs to happen over here is amending the soil more and perhaps adding a better bedding base. Again, more work and more time!

As you walk towards the gate from the backyard to side yard I have few more budding beauties. First is a little bed near the back steps and deck that I've shared recently but I wanted you to see the mint that is growing so vigorously despite the ivy it is pushing up out of.

Smells devine! It's so funny that the cats rarely ever take notice of these.

The jasmine that I planted last year along the fence gate area is starting to take off. I cannot wait to see this spread more this summer.

And though I hadn't realized it until just this morning, my Oakleaf hydrangea next to the side steps and screen porch are indeed starting to bloom. Stacy, I have no idea how I could have not noticed one of the largest bloomers in my yard. LOL!

Okay, now let's move on into our side yard where we have new blooms popping up everywhere.

I have a row of these bushes that separates our yard from out neighbors drive. They are tall and beautiful when in bloom and then bushy and green the rest of the summer. I'm sorry but I cannot seem to ever remember the name of them.

Along this side of the house where the utilities are is where I have also transplanted Iris several years ago. It was also a great spot for the Christmas amaryllis to end up as well. They seem to love it here!

This beautiful climbing rose is the only one left from when we bought the house. We had a whole bed of roses in another area that I struggled with. So they all came up and this one I relocated to the side of the house. It was cut back drastically and is now on the mend. I see I will need to find a trellis for it this year. So pretty!

The Iris are finally just starting to bloom. I have them everywhere but they are no where near full bloom yet. I wanted to share a few with you anyway. I cannot tell you how much I enjoy these flowers. I love everything about them. I love their shapes and variances of colors. I have many different colors but only the purples have started to bloom. Each one is so unique!

As you can see, I love enjoying the beauty of outdoors, but I still have so much more to do out here. We desperately need to mulch all the outer beds and continue removing more leaves. We have mostly been very focused on getting the pool area ready for the summer recently. I have so much more I could share around the pool area but I will stop for now and make that another outdoor post for another day. If you enjoyed this post be sure and check out more similar posts from so many others by clicking this link for;

Thank you all so very much for stopping in today. If you do I'd love to hear from you if you have the time. If not, that's okay to because believe me when I say I totally get it! If a peek in my yard gets you going to your yard and you don't have time to comment...then Yay!!!! I've done my job here today!!!